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1 [1] (October 11, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govendf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Con gressional Research Service Informing the IegisIative diebate since 1914 Updated October 11, 2023 Child Soldiers Prevention Act: Security Assistance Restrictions The recruitment and use of children in armed conflict is broadly viewed as a human rights problem, a form of trafficking in persons, among the worst forms of child labor, and a war crime. The United Nations (U.N.) has identified the recruitment and use of child soldiers as among six grave violations affecting children in war and has established monitoring and reporting mechanisms and initiatives to combat this practice. The U.N. verified that more than 6,000 children were recruited and used as soldiers in 2022, including in Syria (1,696 children), Democratic Republic of the Congo (1,545), Somalia (1,094), Mali (452), and Burma/Myanmar (235), among other countries. Most of the children were boys, and the majority were recruited and used by non-state actors. U.S. efforts to eradicate this phenomenon internationally are guided largely by the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA, Title IV of P.L. 110-457; 22 U.S.C. §2370c et seq.), which defines the term child soldier and prohibits certain security assistance to countries that recruit or use child soldiers, among other provisions. The Child Soldier Prevention Act of 2018 (Title II, Subtitle B of P.L. 115- 425), which became law in January 2019, strengthened some of the CSPA's provisions. Defining Child Soldier The recruitment or use of persons under age 15 as soldiers is prohibited by both the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, and is considered a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In addition, the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict further prohibits persons under age 18 from being compulsorily recruited into state armed forces, from directly engaging in hostilities, and from being recruited or used in hostilities under any circumstances by non-state armed groups. The United States is a party to the Optional Protocol. Congress, through the CSPA, has defined child soldiers in a manner consistent with the Optional Protocol. Under the CSPA, child soldier refers to persons under age 18 who * take direct part in hostilities as a member of governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces; or * are compulsorily recruited into governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces (or are under 15 years old and are voluntarily recruited), including in noncombat roles (e.g., cooks or medics); or * are recruited or used in hostilities by non-state armed forces, including in noncombat roles. CSPA Country List and Restrktions The CSPA aims to combat the recruitment or use of children as soldiers by publicly identifying countries that engage in this practice and prohibiting certain types of U.S. security assistance to these countries. The law requires that the Secretary of State publish annually a list of countries within which governmental armed forces, police, or other security forces or government-supported armed groups, including paramilitaries, militias, or civil defense forces, recruited or used child soldiers during the previous year. Pursuant to the CSPA, the State Department, since 2010, has published a list of countries within the annual State Department Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report). Types of Security Assistance Prohibited The following types of U.S. security assistance are prohibited for the governments of countries designated pursuant to the CSPA (subject to exceptions and waivers, discussed below): * licenses for direct commercial sales (DCS) of military equipment; * foreign military financing (FMF); * international military education and training (IMET); * excess defense articles (EDA); and * peacekeeping operations (PKO). Assistance or support under Department of Defense (DOD) authorities, such as the train and equip authority for building the capacity of foreign defense forces (codified at 10 U.S.C. §333), may also be affected. Other forms of U.S. security assistance to CSPA-listed countries may continue to be provided under the law, although constraints may be applied as a matter of policy. Exceptions The President may provide military education and training through certain institutions and/or nonlethal supplies for up to five years to a CSPA-designated country upon certifying that the recipient government is taking steps to demobilize, reintegrate, and rehabilitate child soldiers and that such assistance will support military professionalization. The prohibition on PKO does not apply to programs that support military professionalism, security sector reform, respect for human rights, peacekeeping preparation, or the demobilization and reintegration of child soldiers. Presidenti Waivers The President has authority under the CSPA to waive all, or certain types, of security assistance restrictions to a given country if the President determines that doing so is in the national interest and certifies to Congress that the relevant government is taking effective and continuing steps to address the problem of child soldiers. The President may also reinstate any assistance that would otherwise be prohibited by certifying that the government in question has implemented measures, including an action plan and actual steps to end government or government-supported

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